The first part of this guide gives general instructions, while the last section contains a list of appendices that give more detailed installation notes for specific system configurations and other less common uses of the software.

Point your browser to the directory where MediaWiki was extracted and follow the link to the setup screen. It should be in the form http://domain/directory/mw-config/index.php. Replace directory with the path to your extracted MediaWiki folder. If installing on a local machine, replace domain with localhost. If you install locally and later want to access your wiki from domain, then you will need to change LocalSettings.php from localhost to domain. If installed on a remote server, replace domain with your server's domain name (eg: www.myserver.com).

Alternatives to manual installation

If you are installing for development or testing, consider using MediaWiki-Vagrant, a set of configuration scripts for Vagrant that automate the creation and update of a virtual machine that runs MediaWiki and your choice of extensions and services.

These are community based resources and should always be treated with some measure of caution. Use at your own risk.

Warning:

Programs provided by webhosts to automatically install applications such as MediaWiki can, and frequently do, mishandle the process, resulting in errors and a failure to install MediaWiki. If you encounter this problem, it does not mean that you cannot install MediaWiki; all it means is that you should install manually following these steps. There are benefits to doing this, including more control over where on the server and file path you want to install it, the ability to use a shared database, or the ability to control more features of the wiki during the installation.

Wiki families

A wiki family is more than one wiki installed on the same server. To set up multiple wikis on MediaWiki, see Manual:Wiki family.

Appendices

Advanced uses

The following pages give instructions about how to install/configure MediaWiki for other, less common purposes.

Installation assistance

System-specific instructions

The following pages give more detailed installation instructions aimed at specific systems. However, by and large Manual:Installing MediaWiki is more up to date, and better written than the per system docs, and as such it is recommended you first consult the main install instructions before looking at a per system installation documents.